Team-BHP - 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by tejas08 (Post 3455805)

Wow!clap:

That really brings up the confidence level on the i-Dtec too. How many people were travelling when you say no one complained of any discomfort and what age group.

I am guessing max 4 people must have travelled and must all have been less than 40 at least.

Yes 4 people were on board. My mother is 52 years old, father is 56 years old, my brother is 19 years old and I am 24 years old. Each of us thoroughly enjoyed switching places in the City's spacious and comfortable interiors. And yes I am in love with the rear seat headrests.:D

A travelogue will be put up soon !! :)

Hello Guys
I test drove the City few days back and the lower end torque was excellent. A great car indeed. But I have few points in mind, which prevents me to go for a booking tomorrow :

1. The strange service schedule of the car. 6 months or 10000 kms. None of the diesel car has such weird requirement of 6 months. Is Honda not confident about their Engine ?

2. Secondly, I felt that tyres need an upgrade atleast to 185. But what I was shocked to hear from Honda sales guy was that the warranty would be void as soon as I go for tyre upgrade.

Is this true ? Will a tyre upgrade really void the warranty ? That's quite a deal breaker. Any inputs from all you mates on this ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpreetsubhi (Post 3455846)

I had upgraded my City to 195/60 if I recall, no warranty hassles. Theoretically if there are issues with suspension they can say its due to aftermarket alloys or tires. However I faced no such issues and know a ha-zillion guys who have upsized Honda tyres without any issues.

Unlike VW, Honda has been more accommodating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 3455812)

Great to know that. We have booked the V i-Dtec. Will be regularly driving in highway.
Have you upgraded the tyres or kept stock?
How is the GC?
How does the car ride on the highway?

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpreetsubhi (Post 3455846)

1. Is Honda not confident about their Engine ?

May be they are extra-caring. :D
I don't think that there is an issue with the diesel engine reliability.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpreetsubhi (Post 3455846)

2. But what I was shocked to hear from Honda sales guy was that the warranty would be void as soon as I go for tyre upgrade.

It depends on the sales guy who is dealing. Talk to the sales manager and explain the issue on upsize. There shouldn't be an issue as such.

All the best. Waiting for your final decision.

Anurag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain (Post 3455742)

Spot on. Cruise Control gives maximum economy on a flat road...
Also, it is a revelation as to just how much throttle modulation we actually do on a daily basis, the first time someone drives on such a road with cruise engaged. You suddenly realize you are approaching that curve too fast or are climbing up that incline with too much gas, as a set speed is being maintained and nothing equivalent to 'taking your foot off the throttle' is happening.

After getting a first hand feel of Cruise control, I know for sure that I'm not going to use it on a regular basis, given the state of our highways with sudden intersections, cattle, dogs and people running across, villages appearing every now and then, sudden potholes and speed breakers where continuous throttle modulation becomes absolutely critical purely in the interest of safety.
(It feels good though to have this feature :) and use it momentarily over clearly visible straight long stretches)

We need sealed highways with only left exits and no intersections and traffic discipline to put Cruise control to good use.
Also cruise control has the potential to impair a driver's ability to react quickly under panic situations as per recent studies (source)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesrani (Post 3455871)

Great to know that. We have booked the V i-Dtec. Will be regularly driving in highway.
Have you upgraded the tyres or kept stock?
How is the GC?
How does the car ride on the highway?

My City is running on stock tires. However there is a good amount of road noise that creeps in, so for better results I suggest you to upgrade your tires.

The GC is excellent, it did scrape its underbelly a couple of times in the bad potholed roads in the Chattisgarh-Odisha border but overall the GC is surprisingly good and it gobbled up some huge speedbreakers with ease.

The highway stability is good and I am sure with 195 section tires it will be even better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by for_cars1 (Post 3455460)

I noticed that the Fuel efficiency actually dropped whenever the cruise control was active, especially when the road is not even and has gentle climbs and slopes over long stretches.

I agree. Even I have similar observation. I daily encounter many flyovers on my route to office, and have both cruise and manual driving modes. When climbing through flyovers, FE dips with cruise control.

My observations after 2500km of driving VMT petrol in Mumbai city. My driving conditions till date have been 100% in the city (my daily commute is from Lokhandwala Andheri West to Powai, approx 35km):

1) Mileage: Till the first service (1000km) I got 9-9.3. Since then, over the past 1500km, I have got 9.9. I am decently satisfied with these figures considering my earlier SX4 was giving me around 9 on the same stretch. My colleague has bought the exact same version as mine and our routes are also exactly the same - he is getting a similar mileage as well. I am just itching to take the car on a highway but unfortunately just haven't been able to. I feel that it should manage to give around 14 on the highway.

2) Performance: This is what just makes you forget the mileage! It's a dream to drive this car even within the city. Gear shifts are not very frequent (e.g. 4th gear can take you from 25kmph, speed breakers can easily be taken in 2nd gear and in fact some of the smaller ones can just be rolled over even in 3rd). Had a drag on JVLR with a biker one morning (I don't remember the bike)... he was ahead till we hit 60kmph but after that he was nowhere to be seen! The car just zooms ahead and the engine noise is WOW - what a roar! It's just an amazing driver's car which is asking to be pushed to the edge!

3) Negatives: There are a few annoying squeaks in the cabin which I hope to be rectified in the 2nd service. Also, due to the stiff suspension, I feel my Dzire has a better suspension setup for the dirty Mumbai roads as compared to the City. My family also voices the same opinion.

All in all, loving the car and surely a good upgrade from my earlier SX4 (ZXI).

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 3456009)

My City is running on stock tires. However there is a good amount of road noise that creeps in, so for better results I suggest you to upgrade your tires.

As an alternative to tyre change, you might also consider going for the underbody 3M paint (5 year warranty variant) to significantly reduce the road noise.

The dealer was quite firm that any Tyre/Rim upsize/change from OEM specifications will specifically void the Suspension and Power Steering warranty. If you have taken extended warranty of 4 years, then it is worth considering the impact on warranty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by for_cars1 (Post 3455893)

After getting a first hand feel of Cruise control, I know for sure that I'm not going to use it on a regular basis, given the state of our highways with sudden intersections, cattle, dogs and people running across, villages appearing every now and then, sudden potholes and speed breakers where continuous throttle modulation becomes absolutely critical purely in the interest of safety.

We need sealed highways with only left exits and no intersections and traffic discipline to put Cruise control to good use.
Also cruise control has the potential to impair a driver's ability to react quickly under panic situations as per recent studies (source)

You can take control of the vehicle at intersections and resume cruise control when required. Its not going to auto resume. Am I missing something?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vahanam (Post 3456413)

You can take control of the vehicle at intersections and resume cruise control when required. Its not going to auto resume. Am I missing something?

Hello Vahanam,

The cruise control is disengaged as soon as we hit the breaks and we need to resume the same as it will not resume by itself. The Auto feature in cruise control will help us in resuming to the preset speed without accelerating with the toe.

I understand the concerns raised by some members here on using the cruise control on highways , I agree with them to an extent. I surely think we we can use it on some of the excellently built highways like Hyd - Blore or Pune -Mumbai expressways.

@ // M how was your experience with this feature on your recent long drive.

cheers,
pdma.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdma (Post 3456823)

@ // M how was your experience with this feature on your recent long drive.

cheers,
pdma.

Frankly there are only a few stretches of tarmac where you could put the cruise control feature to good use. The Raipur-Nagpur was one such stretch, ditto Nasik-Mumbai. An early morning start in these routes ensured minimal traffic so one could use the cruise control for quite some time. Some other notably smooth stretches were Krishnagiri-Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Chatarpur-Khurda in Odisha and the very amazing Hassan to Nelamangala in Karnataka.

The cruise control was put to test and once you get a good feel of it, its easy to put it to task.

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 3456828)

...

The cruise control was put to test and once you get a good feel of it, its easy to put it to task.

Where did you rest your right foot when the cruise control is active ?

We are so used to the right foot being either in one of the two places either on the accelerator or on the brake.

I was a bit apprehensive about resting the right foot on the floor while in cruise control.
The right foot is conditioned to sub-consciously lift itself from the accelerator and land on the brake when required. That automatic reaction of landing the foot on the brake from the floor is untested :D atleast until getting getting used to cruise control.
So whenever I used this feature on a couple of occasions, my right foot was almost on the accelerator though I was not pressing it.